The '£100m' Brighton striker wanted by Man United and Tottenham receives boost after alarming 'dip in form'

Evan Ferguson’s recent form has been defended by his countryman and former Manchester City defender Richard Dunne.

Ferguson, 19, enjoyed a fine breakthrough season with Brighton last term and also began this season well with four goals in his first four Premier League matches.

It prompted plenty of transfer talk with Tottenham reportedly keen to sign him as a replacement for Harry Kane, while Man United were linked with a £100m move. Ex-England striker Alan Shearer also stated he reminds him of himself and added: “I love everything about him, what I’ve seen. The hold-up play, his desire to get into the box, his strength. Very impressive.”

But niggling injuries, a loss of form and confidence and injures to key players around him – such as Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma, Joao Pedro and Julio Enciso – have all contributed to a more challenging second half the season.

The striker – currently on international with Ireland – has not scored for Brighton since his first half strike in the 1-1 draw with Fulham last October.

“It’s natural for players to have ups and downs,” Dunne said to instantcasinos.com. “He was previously playing in a team that was performing well, but now they’re not playing so well, so there will be a degree of discontent within the side. They’re neither getting the results that they want, nor are they scoring the goals that they hoped they would.

“His dip in form has coincided with the rest of the team – they’re not creating the chances that they were towards the end of last season and they’re underperforming a little bit, but as a young lad I wouldn’t get too worried about it.

"Part of your career is learning from the ups and the downs – he’s shown that he is a quality player and he has a lot of talent, he just needs to be patient and it will come back to him.

“I think he’s got the ability to be the main striker at Brighton, so he doesn’t need to be in any rush to move on. You never know what’s going to happen when you move to another club, so I think he’s in the right place at the moment.”

Brighton, who are eighth, resume Premier League action at Liverpool on March 31.